Notes From the Grid is a bi-weekly column about the Columbia County music scene written by Rob. It is featured every other Friday in the "On the Scene" supplement of the Hudson Register Star. See all »

December 17, 2011

Why do we like music?

So then. Why do we like music? There’s all sorts of veneered answers to this loaded question -

It relaxes me.
It defines me .
I excites me.
I can lose myself.

My friend Ardal Powell, CEO and president of Music Word Media Group, discreetly and quietly located on 6 Warren Street here in Hudson, has recently published the English translation of a book written in Italian titled: Why We Like Music: Ear, Emotion, Evolution. It’s a great book with a lot of intriguing and disturbing points, but it’s the title that first engaged my interest and that’s what I’d like to address this week.

I know a lot of people who feel as though they could not live without music in their lives, I also know a lot of people who are decidedly indifferent to music but are aware of the importance of music in the life of their child, friend or spouse. I believe it’s a genuinely important duty to examine this manner of of thought – there are so many inarticulate and off base pontifications about “what the arts mean to us” blah blah blah, but not so much quiet self reflection about these things. Lets’ give it a whirl, what the heck.

Firstly, the reasons that people give for being fond of music often have nothing to do with music itself, or sound or the organization of noises. Often I find people view it as an important social factor, they like to talk about artists and professionals or they like to get together and play with friends to enjoy the camaraderie and the sense of competency which sometimes rises to the surface. I like this too, this is one of the reasons I listen to and play music – I love the creation factor, building and arranging something in a communal manner. There are a lot of stage frightened musicians who love rehearsing more than performing, there are a lots of music lovers who would rather listen to their choices on headphones than to attend a concert.

Ive seen music used as a rationale for behavior - for example, without the precision and the volume of the music, the message and bravado of Heavy/Black/Death/Hair metal bands’ would seem a bit trite and confusing. Music is often used a s a tool for consolation, a sad song after a breakup, dance music as part of the mating process and of course, Leonard Cohen with the lights out when one is a bit depressed.

You may have noticed – I haven’t written much about the noise and vibration part of music, just the perceptions. But the fact of correlated and harmonized vibrations traveling through air or water or physical mass is what the whole thing is about, though we all interpret the final movement on our eardrums a bit differently, don’t we?

Dame Evelyn Glennie comes to mind – she is the first person in musical history to successfully create and sustain a full-time career as a solo percussionist. I aspire to love music the way she does and I recommend the same to all my wonderful readers. Evelyn generally plays barefooted and feels the vibrations through her feet, through her fingers and torso and thighs as she wields mallets and sticks and also through the air. Though she has been profoundly deaf since the age of 12, she is one of the mostly respected instrumentalists in the world because she pays such close attention to the physical (and visual) aspects of music.

Most people can name significant musical events in their life and more often than not these experiences had as much to do with who was in the room, what there was to eat, the weather outside and an array of other decidely unmusical factors. I was once moved in a significant way by a former student my friend playing and singing a song at an intimate and informal performance life accompanied by her soon to be ex-boyfriend on the bass fiddle. That is as situational a reaction as musical.

Location can be a huge factor. I once heard a soprano singing J’ay le Rebours at Troy Savings Bank Music Hall and though I couldn’t understand the words, I was transfixed by the sheer beauty of the voice the room, the musicians, the silences between the notes and potent way in which the singer drew breath. All this without having a clue as to what the song was about since she was singing in archaic french.  Well, I guess that’s not really true because I was speculating on the obvious expression of heartbreak and the series of events leading to profound sorrow and whether or not the personage in the song would ever recover from such beautiful pain.

Almost twenty years later I still treasure that experience and I was reminded of it when I saw that Diane Cluck will be performing at John Doe Books and Records tomorrow night (November 26). 
Ms. Cluck consistently evokes similar reactions from audiences. Her songs are well crafted memoirs which are about the rigors of personal experience in this modern world and are excruciatingly honest and perceptive.  Her performances ( this is I believe her fourth visit to Hudson in as many years) create a shroud of passion, beauty and intelligent self examination.

Diane Cluck

We go to music for comfort when we have had misfortune and sorrow, bad luck and trouble: when we want to sustain happiness and when we want to make a malevolent point. A woman told me one of her most emotional musical experiences was a first listen to one of Bob Dylan’s albums, but admitted that it was the libretto that moved her rather than the chords, melodies and instrumentation, it is only occasionally that music is enjoyed in a pure manner, there is always a plethora of other situational, personal and psychological as well as the limitations of genre – a lot of people are adamantly resistant about listening to anything thing that is not – rock or jazz or ragtime or pop or classical or instrumental or vocal or emo or punk or screamo or dub or reggae etc. - a situation that generally deprives rather than creates enjoyment by limiting the ability to appreciate. These stances usually come from restrictive social situations and self perception. Fortunately Hudson is one of those unique places in which most classifications, categories and species of art, literature and music are embraced and celebrated – not always, but it is a consistent theme in this town. In Hudson almost anything goes (in music anyway) and the limits are pushed enthusiastically and often.

I’ve noticed in talking to a lot of visitors that our little city is gaining a reputation for being one of the most welcoming and creative places to visit or reside in the country, which is why so many excellent musicians are moving here. It sure isn’t for the scads of money to be made (heh) or the smooth running interactions between our camarillas of artists, retailers and politicos. Last night, a musician from Heloise and Savoir Faire, who had just performed at Club Helsinki asked me how long Hudson has been like this (whatever it is at the moment), opining that it is almost a perfect place for a touring band, the audience was appreciative (though fashionably tardy) and sophisticated in their appreciation of a fairly avant garde act, the food is great and the people are friendly. Which made me a bit proud.

Mother Fletcher’s Final Performance November 25 Club Helsinki
Diane Cluck and special guest PG Six(Pat Gubler) John Doe Books and Records 4 Park Place 8 PM
Martin Sexton at Club Helsinki December 3